Some Stuff

Been a bit AWOL from blogging, as I had attended various NYS Bar Association events (hey, inexpensive CLE!) this past week and it wore me out, frankly.

Tv shows:

“Ugly Betty” – remains an intruiging tv show. Still don’t quite know what to make of the consipiracy storyline (I suppose having Rebecca Romaijn makes it that much more interesting to someone out there). But, I like how Betty and her boss Daniel are turning into good friends; not enough tv shows show how friendship is important.

“Grey’s Anatomy” – uh, the developments of the romantic relationships on this show is a bit batty. But, the one character I feel most for (besides Dr. Bailey, who is that much more mature than her bosses, the attendings who are nuts) is the Chief – who kind of made his own problems possible (by driving his wife nuts with his less-than-faithfulness and his inability to retire). Plus, Meredith Grey – the woman needs help getting over her emotional baggage, I still say.

Last but not least of noteworthiness:

Simon and Schuster announced the winners of the Strange New Worlds 10 contest, where new writers submitted short stories for the SNW 10. The webpage notes:

After receiving several thousands of entries and much deliberation, I’m pleased to announce the winners of the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 10 contest:

STAR TREK
“The Smell of Dead Rose” — Gerri Leen —Grand Prize
“The Doomsday Gambit” — Rick Dickson
“Empty”–David DeLee

STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION
“Wired”–Aimee Ford Foster
“A Dish Served Cold”–Paul C Tseng
“The Very Model”–Muri McCage

STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE
“So a Horse Walks into A Bar”–Brian Seidman
“Signal to Noise”–Jim Johnson

STAR TREK: VOYAGER
“The Fate of Captain Ransom”–Rob Vagle
“A Taste of Spam”–Louis E. Doggett
“Adjustments”–Laura Ware
“The Day the Borg Came”–M.C. DeMarco

STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE
“The Dream”–Robyn Sullivent Gries
“Universal Chord” Carolyn Winifred —Third Prize
“You are not in Space”–Edgar Governo

SPECULATIONS
“Time Line”–Jerry M. Wolfe
“Echoes” Randy Tatano —Second Prize
“Brigadoon”–Rigel Ailur
“Reborn”–Jeremy Yoder

Ten years ago Pocket Books offered Star Trek fans a unique opportunity. Long before the Internet, Star Trek fans had written their own stories, which they then shared among friends and family. Now, the fans were offered a chance to become a part of the Star Trek mythos. A contest sponsored by Pocket Books would publish and pay for the best stories submitted by non-professional writers. And over the course of a decade, hundreds of pounds of submissions poured in. Many of the writers who submitted to Strange New Worlds went on to become professional writers.

As of 2007, we will be discontinuing the publication of Strange New Worlds.

Pocket Books is proud to have sponsored the only contest of this kind ever offered to the readers of their books. And over the years with the co-operation of Paramount Pictures, and now CBS Consumer Products, Pocket Books has published ten volumes of short stories “by the fans for the fans.” We would like to thank everyone who ever submitted a story to Strange New Worlds, and everyone who worked behind-the-scenes to make it all happen.

The alternate list was posted on the website of the editor, Dean Wesley Smith; you may recognize a certain SSW on the list; Dean notes:

Okay, here I can talk a little about the alternates and the process. But first off, I want to say again, Congratulations!! to the folks in the book, and to all of you who made the alternate list (good enough to be in the book), and to everyone who sent me a story. You are all winners in my book.

This alternate list is the stories I found that were good enough to be in the book in all ways. All these authors should be very proud of making this list. Job well done.

Feel free to repost this list to other sites, but please note where this is from and take the entire post please. And please pardon my spelling.

19 stories in the book this year.
29 alternates. Some reasons for this will be explained later in this topic.

Alternates for SNW #10

Original Trek
A LOGICAL CONCLUSION by Mary Sweeney
DOUBLE DUTY by Aimee Ford Foster
RESURRECTION by Jim Lawson
RECONCILIATION by Jeremy Yoder
PROPERLY REVERED by Gerri Leen
FINAL CHAPTER by Randy Tatano
CHEATING DESTINY by Joseph D. Di Lella
IN THE NIGHT SKY by Mui McCage

Next Generation
A WRINKLE IN TIME by Rigel Ailur
RACING THE WAVE by Rigel Ailur
DOWN FOR THE COUNT by Paul C. Tseng
LIKE THEY USED TO by Paul C. Tseng
INNOCENCE ASPACE by Lorraine J. Anderson
SUICIDE NOTE by Geoff Towbridge

Deep Space Nine
SECOND GREAT TRIBBLE… by Laura Ware
TIL TIME DO US PART by Jeremy Yoder
LIVING WITH THE CONSEQUENCES by Gerri Leen
FEAR ITSELF by R. S. Belcher

Voyager
VOYAGER BECOMES HER by Stephanie Peaden
THE BOTTLE by Teresa Haugh
WORK IN PROGRESS by Sally S. Woo
TRIPLE EPILOGUE by L.E. Goggett
RETURNED by A. Rhea King
THE ZEN OF BOOTHBY by Muri McCage
PARTED FROM ME by Laura Ware
THE BOOK OF VOYAGER by M.C. DeMarco

Enterprise
DESTINY by Jim Lawson
MEMORABLE by Robyn Sullivent Gries
WHEN ETHICS FAIL by A. Rhea King

Speculations
(none)

The following stories were on my original table of contents but got bumped in the process back to the alternate list. I just thought the authors would want to know this.
INNOCENCE ASPACE by Lorraine J. Anderson
SUICIDE NOTE by Geoff Towbridge
FEAR ITSELF by R. S. Belcher
WHEN ETHICS FAIL by A. Rhea King.

Congratulations again, everyone. And thanks from a very grateful editor that so many wonderful stories were sent in.

Cheers
Dean

The stunning realization that I was incredibly close to seeing my short story published – well, it’s been amazing to think about. It reminded me to keep at it with my writing; there’s payoff one day!

Postscript: oops; I’m so ill-mannered; meant to also say: congratulations to all participants!